1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to tubes and pipes and their arrangement for both transferring lubrication oil from a lubricating oil drain of an engine exhaust gas turbine and as a support for supporting the turbo system to the engine.
2. Prior Art
Pipes formed as drains to pass lubricating oil from a bearing assembly of an exhaust gas driven turbine air compressor or turbocharger back to an engine oiling system are not new. Such drain tubes or pipes, however, have not heretofore also functioned as structural supports between the turbocharger and engine. Nor have they been easy to install as a drain line between a turbine air compressor oil drain and into the engine valley pan. Unique to the invention, the oil drain tubular body end coupling into the engine valley pan provides a smooth cylindrical end for fitting into a hole in the engine valley pan that allows for some flexure or travel between the engine and turbo components, respectively, and further includes a seal arrangement for prohibiting a passage of oil along the outer surface of which sleeve and onto the engine valley pan.
An exhaust gas transfer manifold as a component of a turbo systems that provides for a smooth exhaust gas flow transition to and from an exhaust gas driven turbine air compressor has been developed by the present inventor and is set out in a U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,797. Which '797 patent is directed to manifold systems, but also shows a telescoping end coupling arrangement between an engine manifold and inlet and outlet sides of an exhaust gas driven turbine air compressor. The manifold of the '797 patent does not, however, serve as a drain or function as a support member. Also, a manifold arrangement is shown in another patent of the present inventor, U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,986 that is also structurally and functionally unlike the invention.
The telescoping end couplings of the above set out patents, are pipe and sleeve coupling. Whereas the tube end of the invention is an inwardly necked end section that is for sliding into a hole or opening formed in the engine valley pan. Which tube end also includes a ring seal for preventing oil from flowing up the tube and onto the valley pan, and is therefore unlike the manifolds and their telescoping end couplings of the aforesaid patents.
Additional to the turbine housing and end couplings of the '797 and '986 patents of the present inventor, a number of other turbine housings with connecting pipes have been developed by others. Examples of such earlier turbine housings and connecting tubes or pipes are shown in patents to Woollenweber, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,029; to Neff, U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,073; to Martini, U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,329; and to Wood, U.S. Pat. No. 4,503,680. None of which turbine housing and connecting tubes and pipe arrangements, however, involve a drain line that is also arranged as structural support member. Also, none involve a pipe or tube with a necked end and a seal arrangement for mounting into a hole that is like that of the invention.
The drain and support of the invention, provides for a rigid mounting at one end to a turbo bearing assembly oil drain and is additionally secured as a turbo system component support at spaced points on the side of a compressed air intake manifold, with the other drain end arranged for sliding and sealing into a hole or opening in an engine valley pan. The invention is therefore unlike the telescoping coupling of the earlier '797 patent of the inventor. Further, the invention is similarly distinct from telescoping coupling arrangements shown in patents to Markey, U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,414; and to Alderson, U.S. Pat. No. 2,774,618, and a U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 07/961,669, of the inventor in a uniform flow exhaust gas transfer pipe, that shows a telescoping end coupling. None of which couplings, however, involves a pipe that is arranged as both an oil drain and a support.
The oil drain and turbo assembly support of the invention is also the subject of a design patent application, Ser. No. 07/892,342, filed Jun. 2, 1992.